San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants
1883 Based in San Francisco since 1958
Team logo Cap insignia
Major league affiliations
1883 –present) West Division (1969–present)
Current uniform
Retired numbers	NY NY 3 4 11 20 22 24 25 27 30 36 44 42
Colors
Black, orange, metallic gold, cream[1][2][3]
Name
San Francisco Giants (1958–present) New York Giants (1885–1957) New York Gothams (1883–1884)
Other nicknames
The Orange and Black Los Gigantes The G-Men Baseball Giants (1925–57)
Ballpark
Oracle Park (2000–present) Candlestick Park (1960–1999) Seals Stadium (1958–1959) Hilltop Park (1911) Polo Grounds III (1891–1957 ) Polo Grounds II (1889–1890 ) St. George Cricket Grounds (1889) Oakland Park (1889 ) Polo Grounds I (1883–1888 )
Major league titles
World Series titles (8)	1905 1921 1922 1933 1954 2010 2012 2014
NL Pennants (23)	1888 1889 1904 1905 1911 1912 1913 1917 1921 1922 1923 1924 1933 1936 1937 1951 1954 1962 1989 2002 2010 2012 2014
West Division titles (9)	1971 1987 1989 1997 2000 2003 2010 2012 2021
Pre-modern World Series (3)	1888 1889 1894
Wild card berths (3)	2002 2014 2016
Front office
Principal owner(s)	Charles B. Johnson Greg E. Johnson (Chairman)[4][5]
President	Larry Baer
President of baseball operations	Farhan Zaidi
General manager	Pete Putila
Manager	Bob Melvin

The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. Founded in 1883 as the New York Gothams, the team was renamed the New York Giants three years later, eventually relocating from New York City to San Francisco in 1958. The Giants play their home games in Oracle Park in San Francisco.

The franchise is one of the oldest and most successful in professional baseball, with more wins than any team in the history of major American sports.^[6] The team was the first major-league organization based in New York City, most memorably playing home games at several iterations of the Polo Grounds. The Giants have played in the World Series 20 times. In 2014, the Giants won their then-record 23rd National League pennant; this mark has since been equaled and then eclipsed by the rival Dodgers, who as of 2022 lay claim to 24 NL crowns. The Giants' eight World Series championships are second-most in the NL and fifth-most of any franchise.^[7]

The franchise won 17 pennants and five World Series championships while in New York, led by managers

Despite the efforts of Mays and Barry Bonds, regarded as two of baseball's all-time best players,^[11] the Giants endured a 56-year championship drought following the move west, a stretch that included three World Series losses. The drought finally ended in the early 2010s; under manager Bruce Bochy, the Giants embraced sabermetrics and eventually formed a baseball dynasty that saw them win the World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014, making the Giants the second team in NL history to win three championships in five years.^[12][13][14]

Through 2023, the franchise's all-time record is 11,461–9,973–163 (.534). Since moving to San Francisco in 1958, the Giants have an overall win–loss record of 5,394–5,039–6 (.517) through the end of 2023.^[15] The team's current manager is Bob Melvin.

Franchise history

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New York Giants

The Giants originated in New York City as the New York Gothams in 1883, and were known as the New York Giants from 1885 until the team relocated to San Francisco after the 1957 season. During most of their 75 seasons in New York City, the Giants played home games at various incarnations of the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan.

Numerous inductees of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum played for the New York Giants, including John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, Mel Ott, Bill Terry, Willie Mays, Monte Irvin, and Travis Jackson. During the club's tenure in New York, they produced five of the franchise's eight World Series wins (1905, 1921, 1922, 1933, 1954) and 17 of its 23 National League pennants. Famous moments in the Giants' New York history include the 1922 World Series, in which the Giants swept the Yankees in four games, the 1951 home run by New York Giants outfielder and third baseman Bobby Thomson known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World", and the defensive feat by Mays during Game 1 of the 1954 World Series known as "the Catch".

The Giants had intense rivalries with their fellow New York teams, the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Giants faced the Yankees in six World Series and played the league rival Dodgers multiple times per season. Games between any two of these three teams were known collectively as the Subway Series. The Dodgers-Giants rivalry continues, as both teams moved to California after the 1957 season, with the Dodgers relocating to Los Angeles. The New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) are named after the team.

San Francisco Giants

The Giants, along with their rival

The Giants struggled to sustain consistent success in their first 50 years in San Francisco. They made nine playoff appearances and won three NL pennants between 1958 and 2009. The Giants lost the 1962 World Series in seven games to the New York Yankees. The Giants were swept in the 1989 World Series by their cross-Bay rival Oakland Athletics, a series best known for the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which caused a 10-day delay between Games 2 and 3. The Giants also lost the 2002 World Series to the Anaheim Angels. One of the team's biggest highlights during this time was the 2001 season, in which outfielder Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs, breaking the record for most home runs in a season. In 2007, Bonds would surpass Hank Aaron's career record of 755 home runs. Bonds finished his career with 762 home runs (586 hit with the Giants), which is still the MLB record.

The Giants won three World Series championships in 2010, 2012, and 2014, giving the team eight total World Series titles, including the five won as the New York Giants.

Players inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum as members of the San Francisco Giants include CF Willie Mays, 1B Orlando Cepeda, P Juan Marichal, 1B Willie McCovey, and P Gaylord Perry.

Uniforms

1958–1972

Upon moving to San Francisco, the Giants kept the same uniform they wore in New York, save for two changes. The cap logo now had an interlocking "SF" in orange, while the road uniform now featured "San Francisco" in black block letters with orange trim. Neckline, pants and sleeves feature thin black and orange stripes.

1973–1976

Changing to double-knit polyester, the Giants made a few noticeable changes to their uniform. The color scheme on the letters was changed to orange with black trim, and player names were added on the back. The cap logo remained the same.

1977–1982

For the 1977 season, the Giants switched to pullover uniforms. "Giants" on the home uniform was changed from serifed block lettering to cursive script, and the color scheme returned to black with orange trim. The road uniform became orange, with letters in black with white trim. Neck and sleeve stripes are in black, orange and white. Both uniforms received chest numbers. The standard cap was changed to feature an orange brim.

The 1978 season saw the Giants add a black alternate uniform, an inverse of their road orange uniform. All three uniforms now featured the "Giants" script previously exclusive to the home uniform.

1983–1993

Before the 1983 season, the Giants returned to a traditional buttoned uniform designed by Sidjakov Berman & Gomez.^[16] This design returned to the classic look they wore early in their San Francisco tenure, but with a few exceptions. The lettering became more rounded (save for the player's name), the neck stripes were removed, and the interlocking "SF" and black piping was added on the road gray uniform. The caps returned to an all-black design.

1994–1999

In 1994, the Giants made a few changes to their uniform. The road uniform reverted to "San Francisco" in front and removed the piping. The front of both uniforms returned to stylized block letters with pointed edges, but kept the rounded numbers. The "SF" on the cap was also changed to reflect the lettering change.

2000–present

Coinciding with the move to Oracle Park (then Pacific Bell Park) in 2000, the Giants unveiled new uniforms which were aesthetically close to the style they originally wore in their early years. On each uniform, numbers returned to a block letter style.

Home

The base of the home uniform was changed to cream. The "Giants" wordmark kept the same stylized block letter treatment but the arrangement was changed from a vertical to a radial arch. Neck stripes also returned with this uniform. Gold drop shadows were also added. A sleeve patch containing the team logo and the words "San Francisco Baseball Club" was also featured.

Road

The gray road uniform returned to the classic "San Francisco" wordmark used in the 1960s, though in 2005 gold drop shadows were also added. This uniform was then tweaked to include black piping in 2012. Two sleeve patches were used. Between 2000 and 2010, the patch featured "SF" in orange letters in front of a baseball, with the full name added within a black circle. In 2011, this was changed to the sleeve patch used on the home uniform. Until 2020, only the road uniform featured player names; since 2021, all Giants uniforms have player names on the back.

Black alternate

In 2001, the Giants added a road and home alternate black uniform. Each uniform shared the same design as their home and road counterparts, with the exception of the road alternate receiving gold drop shadows. The home design was dropped after only one season, and the road version was retired the following year. Both sets were worn with an all-black cap but with the squatchee in black (the primary cap has an orange squatchee) and the "SF" wordmark changed to black with orange trim.

In 2015, the Giants unveiled a new black alternate uniform to be used on select Saturday home games. This set has the interlocking "SF" in front along with orange piping and a new sleeve patch containing the Golden Gate Bridge atop the "Giants" wordmark. Initially, the letters were in black with orange trim, but this was changed to orange with black trim and orange drop shadows.

Orange alternate

Before the 2010 season, the Giants unveiled a new orange alternate uniform to be used on Friday home games. Initially, this design was similar to the home uniform save for a trim change to cream, but in 2011, the sleeve patch was changed to the one previously used on the team's road uniform. In 2014, the orange alternate were tweaked slightly, adding black piping and a new sleeve patch featuring the interlocking "SF" logo, and returning to the script "Giants" lettering previously used in the late 1970s. This design is usually paired with a black cap with orange brim featuring the "SF" logo.

Road alternate

Between 2012 and 2019, the Giants wore a second gray road uniform. This design was similar to the primary roads, but with the "SF" in place of the city name (a nod to the 1983–1993 road uniforms).

City Connect

In 2021, Major League Baseball and Nike introduced the "City Connect" program, with teams wearing special uniforms that reflect the pride and personality of their community. The Giants' version is a white base with orange accents, featuring the stylized "G" in an orange/white gradient. The gradient represents the San Francisco fog that envelopes the Bay Area many months per year. An orange silhouette of the Golden Gate Bridge is printed on the sleeves. The uniform is paired with an all-orange cap with the "SF" in orange with white trim. The uniforms are usually worn on Tuesday home games.

Rivalries

The Giants' rivalry with the

The rivalry between the

The Giants-Dodgers rivalry is one of the longest-standing rivalries in team sports.^[10]

The Giants-Dodgers feud began in the late 19th century when both clubs were based in New York City, with the Dodgers based in Brooklyn and the Giants playing at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan. After the 1957 season, Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley decided to move the team to Los Angeles primarily for financial reasons.^[19] Along the way, he managed to convince Giants owner Horace Stoneham (who was considering moving his team to Minnesota) to preserve the rivalry by taking his team to San Francisco as well.^[19] New York baseball fans were stunned and heartbroken by the move.^[19][20] Given that the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco have long been competitors in economic, cultural and political arenas, their new California venues became fertile ground for transplantation of the ancient rivalry. In the wake of the Giants' and Dodgers' leaving New York, a new ballclub was born in 1962 in Queens: The New York Mets. The team's colors (blue and orange) were an homage to the recently departed teams.

Both teams' having endured for over a century while leaping across an entire continent, as well as the rivalry's growth from cross-city to cross-state, have led to its being considered one of the greatest in sports history.^[21][22][23]

The Giants-Dodgers rivalry has seen both teams enjoy periods of success at the expense of the other. While the Giants have more total wins, head-to-head wins, and

A geographic rivalry with the cross-Bay

The Giants and A's enjoyed a limited rivalry at the start of the 20th century before the Yankees began to dominate after the acquisition of Babe Ruth in 1920, when the Giants were in New York and the A's were in Philadelphia. The teams were managed by legendary leaders John McGraw and Connie Mack, who were considered not only friendly rivals but the premier managers during that era, especially in view of their longevity (Mack for 50 years, McGraw for 30) since both were majority owners. Each team played in five of the first 15 World Series (tying them with the Red Sox and Cubs for most World Series appearances during that time period). As the New York Giants and the Philadelphia A's, they met in three World Series, with the Giants winning in 1905 and the A's in 1911 & 1913. After becoming the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's, they met in a fourth Series in 1989 resulting in the A's last world championship (as of 2021).

New York Yankees

Though in different leagues, the Giants have also been historical rivals of the Yankees,^[25][26][27] starting in New York before the Giants moved to the West Coast. Before the institution of interleague play in 1997, the two teams had little opportunity to play each other except in seven World Series: 1921, 1922, 1923, 1936, 1937, 1951 and 1962, the Yankees winning last five of the seven Series. The teams have met five times in regular season interleague play: In 2002 at the old Yankee Stadium, in 2007 at Oracle Park (then known as AT&T Park), in 2013, 2016, and 2023 at the current Yankee Stadium, and in 2019 at Oracle Park. The teams' next regular season meetings will occur in 2024.

In a September 2013 meeting, Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez hit a grand slam, breaking Lou Gehrig's grand slam record.

In his July 4, 1939 farewell speech ending with the renowned "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth", Yankee slugger Lou Gehrig, who played in 2,130 consecutive games, declared that the Giants were a team he "would give his right arm to beat, and vice versa".^[28]

Baseball Hall of Famers

As of 2021, the

Ford C. Frick Award recipients

Other

The following inducted members of the Hall of Fame played or managed for the Giants, but either played for the Giants and were inducted as a manager having never managed the Giants, or managed the Giants and were inducted as a player having never played for the Giants:

• Cap Anson – inducted as player, managed Giants in 1898.
• Hughie Jennings – inducted as player, managed Giants from 1924 to 1925.
• Bill McKechnie – inducted as manager, played for Giants in 1916.
• Frank Robinson – inducted as player, managed Giants from 1981 to 1984.
• Casey Stengel – inducted as manager, played for Giants from 1921 to 1923.

Broadcasters Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons, and Jon Miller are permanently honored in the Hall's "Scribes & Mikemen" exhibit as a result of winning the Ford C. Frick Award in 1980, 2004, and 2010 respectively. As with all Frick Award winners, none are officially recognized as an inducted member of the Hall of Fame.

Bay Area Sports Hall of Famers

Wall of Famers

The Giants Wall of Fame recognizes retired players whose records stand highest among their teammates on the basis of longevity and achievements.

Those honored have played a minimum of nine seasons for the San Francisco Giants, or five seasons with at least one All-Star selection as a Giant.^[29]

Retired numbers

The Giants have retired 11 numbers in the history of the franchise, most recently Will Clark's number 22 in 2022.

Christy Mathewson P   Honored 1988 John McGraw 3B Mgr Honored 1988 Bill Terry 1B Mgr, GM Retired 1984 Mel Ott RF Mgr Retired 1949 Carl Hubbell P   Retired 1944 Monte Irvin LF   Retired June 26, 2010 Will Clark 1B   Retired July 30, 2022 Willie Mays CF   Retired May 12, 1972 Barry Bonds LF   Retired August 11, 2018 Juan Marichal P   Retired 1975 Orlando Cepeda 1B   Retired July 11, 1999 Gaylord Perry P   Retired July 23, 2005 Willie McCovey 1B   Retired September 21, 1980 Jackie Robinson* – All MLB Honored April 15, 1997

* Retired throughout the major leagues; Robinson actually was traded to the Giants, but retired before playing a game for them.

Of the Giants whose numbers have been retired, all but Bonds and Clark have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1944, Carl Hubbell (#11) became the first National Leaguer to have his number retired by his team.^[30] Bill Terry (#3), Mel Ott (#4), and Hubbell played or managed their entire careers for the New York Giants. Willie Mays (#24) began his career in New York, moving with the Giants to San Francisco in 1958; he did not play in most of 1952 and all of 1953 due to his service in the Korean War. Mathewson and McGraw are honored by the Giants, but played in an era before uniform numbers became standard in baseball.

The Giants had originally scheduled to retire Will Clark's #22 on July 11, 2020, but the ceremony was postponed until July 30, 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[31]

Also honored

John McGraw (3B, 1902–06; manager, 1902–32) and Christy Mathewson (P, 1900–16), who were members of the New York Giants before the introduction of uniform numbers, have the letters "NY" displayed in place of a number.

Broadcasters Lon Simmons (1958–73, 1976–78, 1996–2002 & 2006), Russ Hodges (1949–70), and Jon Miller (1997–current) are each represented by an old-style radio microphone displayed in place of a number.

The Giants present the Willie Mac Award annually to the player that best exemplifies the spirit and leadership shown by Willie McCovey throughout his career.

Team captains

The Giants have had ten official recorded captains over the years:^[32]

• Jack Doyle, 1902
• Dan McGann, 1903–1907^[33][34]
• Larry Doyle, 1908–16
• Gus Mancuso, 1937–38
• Mel Ott, 1939–47
• Alvin Dark, 1950–56
• Willie Mays, 1961–72
• Willie McCovey, 1977–80
• Darrell Evans, 1980–83
• Jack Clark, 1984

During the 2021–22 season, player Brandon Belt gave himself the title of self-proclaimed captain,^[35] but this was not considered an official captaincy.^[36]

Season records

All-time regular season record: 11,382–9,854 (.536)^[37] (through 2022 season)

Home stadiums

New York

• Polo Grounds I (1883–1888
  )
• Oakland Park (1889
  )
• St. George Cricket Grounds (1889)
• Polo Grounds II (1889–1890
  )
• Polo Grounds III (1891–1957
  )
  • Hilltop Park (1911 due to 1911 fire)

San Francisco

• Seals Stadium (1958–1959 after moved to San Francisco)
• Candlestick Park (1960–1999)
• Oracle Park (2000–present) aka AT&T Park, SBC Park, and Pacific (Pac) Bell Park

Roster

Minor league affiliations

The San Francisco Giants farm system consists of eight minor league affiliates.^[38]

Radio and television

Giants' television telecasts are on NBC Sports Bay Area (cable) with select games simulcasted on KNTV (broadcast). KNTV's broadcast contract with the Giants began in 2008, one year after the team and KTVU mutually ended a relationship that dated to 1961.^[39] Jon Miller regularly called the action on KNTV, which used to be exclusive to the NBC Bay Area channel up until 2021, while the announcing team for NBCSBA telecasts is Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, affectionately known as "Kruk and Kuip" (pronounced "Kruke" and "Kype"). During the 2016 season, the Giants had an average 4.71 rating and 117,000 viewers on primetime TV broadcasts.^[40] Since the 2022 season, as Krukow is unable to travel with the team due to his inclusion body myositis, the pair only work home games and select road games, which the road games are done via "SplitKast" where Kuiper would be at the away ballpark and Krukow will be at the NBC Sports Bay Area studio in San Francisco. Shawn Estes, Javier López, and Hunter Pence serve as an alternate broadcast team for all other Giants road games.^[41][42]

The Giants' flagship radio station is KNBR (680 AM). KNBR's owner, Cumulus Media, is a limited partner in San Francisco Baseball Associates LP, the owner of the team.^[43] Jon Miller and Dave Flemming are the regular play-by-play announcers. Joe Ritzo and F.P. Santangelo serves as a backup play by play when Jon is absent and Dave is on TV. In addition to KNBR, the Giants can be heard throughout Northern California and parts of Nevada, Oregon, and Hawaii on the Giants Radio Network. Erwin Higueros and Tito Fuentes handle Spanish-language radio broadcasts on KXZM (93.7 FM).

Fight song and other music

First used for Giants radio broadcasts on KSFO, the team's fight song "Bye, Bye Baby!" is currently used following any Giants home run. The song is played in the stadium, and an instrumental version is played on telecasts when the inning in which the home run was hit concludes. The title and chorus "Bye bye baby!" coming from famed former Giants broadcaster Russ Hodges, which was his home run call.^[44][45]

Following a Giants home win, Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is played in Oracle Park in celebration.

Uniform schedule

Giants 2023 uniform schedule:

• Cream Home jerseys: Home games on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, most Saturdays and Sunday.
• Gray Road jerseys: Road games from Monday to Sunday.
• Orange alternate jerseys: Every night game on Friday (known as Orange Friday).
• Black alternate jerseys: Every fourth Saturday of the month (away game).
• City Connect jerseys: Every Tuesday home game.

See also

• List of San Francisco Giants team records
• List of San Francisco Giants managers

References

Sources

• Hynd, Noel (1988). The Giants of the Polo Grounds: The Glorious Times of Baseball's New York Giants. New York: Doubleday.
  ISBN 0-385-23790-1
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to San Francisco Giants.

• San Francisco Giants official website
• San Francisco Giants Team History & Encyclopedia Baseball Reference
• Sports E-Cyclopedia San Francisco Giants Page History and Pictures
• Robert Lurie talks at the Commonwealth Club in 1976 about the process of keeping the Giants in San Francisco (from the Commonwealth Club records at the Hoover Institution)

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Pittsburgh Pirates 1901–1903	National League champions New York Giants 1905	Succeeded by Chicago Cubs 1906–1908
Preceded by Boston Red Sox 1903	World Series champions New York Giants 1905	Succeeded by Chicago White Sox 1906
Preceded by Chicago Cubs 1910	National League champions New York Giants 1911–1913	Succeeded by Boston Braves 1914
Preceded by Brooklyn Dodgers 1916	National League champions New York Giants 1917	Succeeded by Chicago Cubs 1918
Preceded by Brooklyn Dodgers 1916	National League champions New York Giants 1917	Succeeded by Chicago Cubs 1918
Preceded by Brooklyn Dodgers 1920	National League champions New York Giants 1921–1924	Succeeded by Pittsburgh Pirates 1925
Preceded by Cleveland Indians 1920	World Series champions New York Giants 1921–1922	Succeeded by New York Yankees 1923
Preceded by Chicago Cubs 1932	National League champions New York Giants 1933	Succeeded by St. Louis Cardinals 1934
Preceded by New York Yankees 1932	World Series champions New York Giants 1933	Succeeded by St. Louis Cardinals 1934
Preceded by Chicago Cubs 1935	National League champions New York Giants 1936–1937	Succeeded by Chicago Cubs 1938
Preceded by Philadelphia Phillies 1950	National League champions New York Giants 1951	Succeeded by Brooklyn Dodgers 1952–1953
Preceded by Brooklyn Dodgers 1952–1953	National League champions New York Giants 1954	Succeeded by Brooklyn Dodgers 1955–1956
Preceded by New York Yankees 1949–1953	World Series champions New York Giants 1954	Succeeded by Brooklyn Dodgers 1955
Preceded by Cincinnati Reds 1961	National League champions San Francisco Giants 1962	Succeeded by Los Angeles Dodgers 1963
Preceded by Los Angeles Dodgers 1988	National League champions San Francisco Giants 1989	Succeeded by Cincinnati Reds 1990
Preceded by Arizona Diamondbacks 2001	National League champions San Francisco Giants 2002	Succeeded by Florida Marlins 2003
Preceded by Philadelphia Phillies 2009	National League champions San Francisco Giants 2010	Succeeded by St. Louis Cardinals 2011
Preceded by New York Yankees 2009	World Series champions San Francisco Giants 2010	Succeeded by St. Louis Cardinals 2011
Preceded by St. Louis Cardinals 2011	National League champions San Francisco Giants 2012	Succeeded by St. Louis Cardinals 2013
Preceded by St. Louis Cardinals 2011	World Series champions San Francisco Giants 2012	Succeeded by Boston Red Sox 2013
Preceded by St. Louis Cardinals 2013	National League champions San Francisco Giants 2014	Succeeded by New York Mets 2015
Preceded by Boston Red Sox 2013	World Series champions San Francisco Giants 2014	Succeeded by Kansas City Royals 2015